Saga #14 Review

by Jess Camacho

Saga #14 hit shelves today and if you still aren’t reading this comic then I have no idea what you’re waiting for. Brian K. Vaughn has proven with this book that he cannot write a bad comic. It is unbelievable. The awards that you’ve no doubt have heard its won are very deserved.

Saga #14 starts off with begins with our new reporter characters, Upsher & Doff, talking to Alana’s stepmother (who is about the same age as Alana) about Alana’s disappearance. She says she was kidnapped by a “moony” (we assume she means Marko) and that she is not supposed to talk about it. Clearly the hunt for Alana and Marko has been kept quiet….for now.We join our main characters as they are still reeling from the death of Marko’s father. They are on their way to Quietus to meet the writer of the novel that brought Alana & Marko together. We get to finally meet the writer who Hazel (in a narrator role) says makes the worst first impression ever. Alana geeks out like any normal fan would and Marko’s mother creates a bond with Heist. Hazel mentions that she may have never loved someone the way she loved her grandfather but that doesn’t mean Granny never loved again.

Elsewhere we catch up with Gwendolyn and The Will. The Will is showing Gwendolyn how to use the lance he has so she can handle herself better in a fight. She’s learning by harpooning FLYING SHARKS! Yes, flying sharks. How can you not love this book? The Will is having very strange visions of his dead ex-girlfriend The Stalk. She is giving him life advice and it is starting to freak him out since she wasn’t like that when she was alive. I won’t spoil everything but I will tell you that The Will makes a couple of big decisions in this issue.

What I love most about this comic was used a lot in this issue. Hazel’s narration. We know that Hazel grows up (how old we don’t know) and that she is the one telling us this story. Throughout the issues she has dropped hints about her future. She’s hinted that her first baby outfit (made by Marko’s dad) is not totally gone. She has a piece of it and uses it as a bookmark. Hazel, in her narration today, lets us know that Alana never went back to her homeworld but she and Granny did. This is part of what makes Vaughn such a great writer. He writes his comics with an ending already in mind. He knows where he’s going and how he’s going to get us there. Just read his other works (specifically Y:The Last Man & Ex Machina). Nothing is by accident.

Fiona Staples continues to shine here. There is a talking baby seal and flying sharks in this issue. Not just anyone can do this. I’m glad that The Will is “seeing” The Stalk again because that is my favorite character design. She just won an Eisner award for her artwork on this book and it is very much deserved. Everything she draws for the interior of Saga is fantastic. While this is a sci-fi book, the faces on the main characters are well done. Alana and Gwendolyn are gorgeous, Marko is handsome, the tv-head Prince is still an amazing concept.

If you aren’t reading this book, I’m really lost. You have to HATE sci-fi to continue to ignore this book. First two trades are in stores and this issue went on sale today. Pick it up. It is worth the money.

Jess Camacho is the comic editor of Geeked Out Nation. She likes comics. A LOT. You can find her talking about comics all over the internet. Check out her reviews/features here at GON and her work at Multiversity Comics. Follow her on twitter @CamachoJess or email her at camachojess@geekedoutnation.com